Week 17: We're Back!

After a long Winter Break, the Small Scale Bogie team is back and refreshed to start creating and testing the bogie. The first meeting of the Spring semester was primarily used to meet up with all the small-scale subgroups and optimize our bill of materials. The Spartan Superway shop has many components and materials that were purchased from previous teams that need to be accounted for within the Bill of Materials. This allows us to use the funding we received efficiently. Lastly, we decided on the final configuration and specifications for the project. For the small-scale bogie, the width needs to be reduced to reliably switch tracks. With all of the configurations finalized, everyone can have the green light to start purchasing materials and building the designs.

We as the small-scale bogie team need to be diligent in finalizing our bogie design as the track team needs to know the width of our bogie.

Week 6: Presentation

Today we presented our proposal for the design of the bogie to our fellow colleagues in the Spartan Superway headquarters. Although we were nervous, it was a great experience to be able to share our ideas and receive constructive feedback. From this presentation, we know we have a lot to work on. But at least now we have a clearer picture of what needs to be done for this bogie.

We need to follow a strict schedule for our project to be done on time. Our current end goal is to have one working bogie that can be used with the pod created by the design team, the Arduino program created by the controls team, and the structure created by the structure team. This is a collaborative effort and by the end of the semester, each of our puzzle pieces must fit.

Week 5: Coordination

Working with others is imperative to our success within this project. Spartan Superway has been a new experience for the both of us as this is the first project ever done where team collaboration is an integral cog within this project. We as the 12th scale bogie team cannot just work amongst ourselves. As we researched more into our respective designs for the bogie, we have come across the realization that some decisions we make need the input from the other 12th scale teams; and some of the decisions that we do make will indeed affect the project of another group. No team is solely independent. Previously AJ stated to our group, "where does your project end and another project starts?" So currently we need to plan ahead and work with the other teams to produce a working 12th scale system. The issue is currently just working around a variety of schedules that all don't align due to each of our individual situations.

12th Scale Cabin Design